drifted

Drifted is part of the exhibition These Passing Things, installed on the upper canal of the Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal Water Garden in Ripon, Yorkshire, UK, in June 2021. On the water, twenty scale replicas of the Studley Pyramid float on the surface, painted white to echo the marble and faux-marble sculptures within the historic gardens. The forms deliberately accentuate an often-overlooked sightline to and from the rustic bridge. As a mass of identical objects in constant movement on the water, the piece exploits the enigmatic nature of the Studley Pyramid in particular, and of garden and landscape follies in general, asking visitors to re-examine how such architectural fantasies are seen and experienced within a designed water landscape. The work was created with investment from Arts Council England and the National Trust, which commissioned it as part of Trust New Art, and was fabricated by M3 Industries from polyurethane foam and steel. By releasing the pyramids onto the canal, the installation animates the slow, still viewing tradition of the eighteenth-century water garden with a quiet, uncanny repetition, turning a known prospect into a temporary field of reflection. Project details are limited in the source material.